Old Glory WW1 French 75mm and German 77mm Field Guns

These are the first projects for the new year. They were added to the Noble Knight Games order along with the Old Glory Japanese infantry. Needed to up the order to the free shipping amount, and also wanted to add some artillery to the French and German WW1 forces.

Although not an expert on artillery, by any means, these guns - as wells as the earlier "Mexican" gun from Old Glory look very nice. Well-detailed and they go together very nicely. 

These two guns each came with 6-figure crews. The figures are also nicely detailed and posed - a couple of duplicates, but with heads turning different directions (as per usual for Old Glory).

The guns and crew are on oval bases picked up several years ago from a craft store - they're about 115x80mm.

Also painted up these terrain pieces which were part of the Noble Knight order. From the website, I thought the QF trench pieces were 28mm, but the look more like 15mm or 20mm. The Warlord Games gabion gun emplacement was listed as 28mm on the website, but it also looks like 15mm or 20mm. I'll probably give them to someone as the only 15mm figures I have are for a "Pre-Samurai" DBA army - and only gamed once a long time ago.

Don't have anything in the paint queue at the moment, and will be visiting family in Hawaii, including my 92 year old mom, in about a week, so probably will await my return before doing any painting or gaming. Otherwise, the holidays passed uneventfully - which is how I like it. Hope you all are doing well in the new year, and thanks for stopping by the blog.

Chehalis Veteran's Memorial Museum Game Day

Had a great game day down in Chehalis at the privately run Veteran's Memorial Museum there. One of our gaming buddies is on the board of directors, and lets us have a game day at least once a year. I missed last year, but have been to several in the past. I was lucky play in a great Tribal game run by David, aka "I Live With Cats" blogger in the morning period. His figures are 40mm and very impressive - along with the terrain. My warlord ended up destroying a good portion of my opponent's warband before finally succombing to wounds from successive attacks by several enemy units. I did manage to secure my two objects though - destroying the warband's own totem and also have a shaman type safe until the end of the game. I'm sure David will be posting a detailed report of the game on his blog soon. It was my first time with the rules and they are card driven. That is, each player had deck of cards and it's used to activate and respond to actions during the game. The cards are also used for measuring movement - the long and short sides. Range for missile weapons is the entire table - as long as there is LOS. I was also able to finally get my Wargames Atlantic WW1 French and German figures on the table with a Bolt Action game in the second period. A captured Mk IV and Renault FT-17 from Warlord Games also made their gaming debut in the game. Here are some pictures from the two game I participated in.

The Tribal game prior to commencing. Two cards per player were drawn by the GM and had each players hidden objectives. My two were to destroy my own warband's totem and to secured the safety of a shaman (or whatever he was, as I can't remember). Then each player drew a card from their own deck and the order of play was decided by highest cards. Further cards were drawn for each unit, including individual heroes, by each player. These were used for activation or reaction.

David's 40mm figures are awesome to behold. His terrain is top notch too.

Second period with me hosting a Bolt Action WW1 game. As I hadn't played Bolt Action for some time I was a bit rusty at first, but then got into the swing of things. The Germans ended up winning by occupying more of the structures (ruins) at the end of turn 7 or 8. The Mk IV had the advantage over the FT-17 as it not only had several Lewis MMGs, but also a 6 pounder AT gun. The FT-17 only had a single Light AT gun. If I use it again I'll give it the option having an MMG. A French unit did attempt to assault the Mk IV, but it suffered a few casualties by the reaction fire from the tank. The remaining French had a fair number of hits but failed to cause damage to the tank. Here are a few pictures from the game.

French forces at the start of the game - two infantry squads, two machine gun teams, and the Renault FT-17.

Germans at the start - two infantry squads, two machine gun teams, and the captured Mk IV tank.

The terrain set up is pretty much the same way I had when I've run FPW games in the past. It seems to work well for these types of games.

The Mk IV unable to get LOS on the FT-17 in the distance.

Just an excuse for a photo op of the tank. I failed to get more of the FT-17 as it was hiding behind terrain most of the time.

German squad and machine gun team making into the ruins - this is an Old Glory building I've had for over 15 years - it has served well!

The other German squad and machine gun team occuyping another set of ruins on the opposite flank.

French squad advancing up to the stone walls for cover. They were eventually destroyed by fire from Germans occupying ruins facing them.

German squad moving up to hedges for light cover. They were able to take out the French facing them with rifle and machine gun fire.

French squad assaulting the Mk Iv near the end of the game. The failed to damage the the tank and had to retreat back. In fact, this was the only assault in the entire game - there was no infantry on infantry assaults. 

Rat Patrol game using homebrew rules. Greg the GM, came up from Portland to host this in the first period. He also ran it at Enfilade earlier in the year.

Xenos Rampant game - first period.

Chain of Command WW2 game - first period.

Napoleonic Rebels and Patriots game - afternoon period. This was run by my buddy James with his 1809 Campaign Austrian vs. Bavarian scenario. I played versions of this scenario a few times with both Black Powder and Rebels and Patriots.

Natives getting restless in the morning prior to the first period. I was able to set up my Bolt Action game on a spare table for the afternoon period.

The entrance into the display area of the museum - I've posted images of the displays in previous posts of prior game days here.

The P-51 and massive US flag on back wall.

As mentioned before, this museum is privately funded and very impressive. The displays contain a lot of personal items from service members from the Washington State and surrounding areas. It's easily accessed off of I-5 in Chehalis.

It was a great way to spend an overcast and drizzly Pacific Northwest day in a great museum with like minded gamer buddies. I was again encouraged to attend the Tuesday night games in Olympia and also have a Saga game day on Wednesday. Not sure if I'll make these, but it's always nice to have so many gaming opportunities nearby. Speaking of which, next month is another annual game day up in the Boeing Museum of Flight. Looking forward to that one too. Until next time, thanks again for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

First Completed "Post-Retirement" Project - Wargames Atlantic Great War French & Germans Infantry

 I may have mentioned it previously, but I just retired on 30 April from my job with Washington State. My actual last working day was last Thursday, the 28th - so had time to work on two boxes of Wargames Atlantic Great War French and German Infantry. These painted up quickly as I used an old can of Army Painter Wolf Grey to basecoat the French and a can of Krylon Camouflage Olive to base the Germans. Painted them up with the usual block painting and Minwax stain - followed by a little highlighting.

The French box is short 12 figures which I had used for Tirailleurs for a Western Desert WW2 game. 

Minimal equipment with a no-frills uniform really sped up the process. I used Vallejo Grey Blue to highlight the uniform.

The Germans also have minimal equipment and the late war uniform has simple cuffs with non-exposed buttons - again making for quick painting. The Krylon Camouflage Olive is a very close match to Vallejo Fieldgrey - the latter used mainly for highlighting.

Here they are with their earlier painted brethren.

The French are now 58 strong, and the Germans 60. Still need to had some HMG teams.

Here's a shot showing the Germans base-coated with the Krylon Camouflage Olive and only the jackets being painted with Vallejo Fieldgrey.

On the gaming front, I have a Saga game tomorrow (first time in years), and a Bolt Action WW1 Middle East game on Friday. So I suppose being retired does have benefits when it comes to the hobby. Thanks for dropping by and wishing you the all the best.

Wargames Atlantic French Poilus

Here are the 35 figures from the Wargames Atlantic French WW1/2 set. I ended up using some Vallejo Grey Blue to highlight some of the cloth. A pretty good match for the Army Painter Wolf Grey spray paint.

The helmets were painted a little darker using a mixture of black, Dark Prussian Blue and Grey Blue.

They're based on Litko 25mm plywood rounds (3mm thick). Same as the German set painted a couple of years ago. I've waited this long for these Poilus. Plan to get some WW1 gaming in after next weekend's convention. Probably using Bolt Action - at least at first.

I'm glad to have these done as I always liked the Horizon Bleu uniform. I sold off a bunch of Old Glory French some years ago - so these are nice replacements.

What I need to be doing is refreshing myself with the La Haye Sainte Black Powder and Marston Moor Pike & Shotte games that I'll be hosting next weekend at Enfilade. I prepared QRS specific for the games and even emailed copies to some of the players. Hopefully it'll make the games run that much smoother. In any case, looking forward to hosting the games and seeing old acquaintances - some of whom I haven't seen since the 2019 convention. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best!

Beutepanzer - Warlord Games British Mark IV Tank in German Service

Finished painting the Warlord Game British Mark IV tank - work was interrupted while I worked on the Perry Napoleonic Russian Infantry.

As mentioned in a previous post, this is a very nice kit that goes together well. I couldn't tell you how many rivets there are, but there's a lot of them. Here it is next to a Wargames Atlantic figure for size comparaison.

Above image shows the Mark IV next to the Warlord Games Renault FT-17 posted earlier. Quite a substantial size difference - and being from the same maker (Warlord Games), it should be "scaled" correctly

Another view next to the Renault for comparison. The Mark IV kit is mostly resin with only a few metal parts. The guns, exhaust pipe, top rails and the wood beam are metal parts.

And another comparison shot - this time with an Old Glory A7V. For the record, I used decals for the crosses on the Mark IV - which were a major pain as they were very fragile and kept breaking apart when I tried to apply them on. Thankfully, there were enough "extras" that I was finally able to get them all on. In the end it was worth it, as I didn't want to try and paint the crosses on by hand - which I did for the A7V (only 2 crosses there).

Anyway, thanks again for dropping by. Just wanted to post this as this tank was in the works prior to the Perry Napoleonic Russians. In fact, I have another tank which I was working on prior to the Russians - the Hobby Boss KV-75/76 - to finish too. Until next time, wishing you all the very best in health and hobby endeavors!

Warlord Games FT-17 Painted

Finished up painting the tank - had to use a Frenchman from an earlier era for scale as I don't have any WW1 French figures yet.

It's a great kit with minimal parts that go together nicely. The track assemblies for each side have pegs and holes in the body for easy placement.

A wash of Future floor wax with some Vallejo ink/stain was used over the whole tank. I went over the rivets and seams for a deeper stain.

The tracks are finished fairly clean, with no mud or debris one them. Way too clean for the battlefield, but I tend to keep weathering to a minimum. The exhaust should probably be rusted/corroded too.

Also highlighted the camo very lightly too.

Again, a top-notch resin and metal kit which I can highly recommend.

The British Mark IV is next, but am awaiting the arrival of some decals for crosses before starting on it.

Another out-of-period scale/size comparison below:

Thanks again for dropping by the blog, and wishing you all the best for the new year.